Wildfires

Good morning, California. It’s Friday, September 24. Sequoias still under siege A dispatch from CalMatters environment reporter Julie Cart: In California, it’s possible to be hundreds of miles away from Hollywood and still find yourself in a place that looks for all the world like a movie set. Where better to illustrate the perils of […]

“The challenge is there is no water.” That bleak assessment from Karla Nemeth, director of the state Department of Water Resources, puts the devastating scope of California’s drought into perspective even more sharply than the sea of statistics released Tuesday and reported by CalMatters’ Rachel Becker: 90% of the state is gripped by extreme or […]

AB 418 would provide local governments needed resources to ensure that critical services remain available during blackouts.

Good morning, California. It’s Tuesday, September 21. Big 2022 campaign issue Fires move fast, but politicians move faster. Early Monday, Assemblymember Marc Levine of San Rafael announced plans to challenge fellow Democrat and State Insurance Commissioner Ricardo Lara in 2022, charging that Lara hasn’t done enough to prevent Californians living in fire-prone areas from losing […]

There is no ecological Chapter 11 to protect our communities from climate change. But, here are actions we can all take now:

Gov. Gavin Newsom has misled Californians about what the state has done to prevent catastrophic wildfires.

Good morning, California. It’s Tuesday, August 31. Hectic evacuation process Thousands of cars stuck in traffic so knotted that one South Lake Tahoe resident moved just 30 feet in two hours. Snow guns deployed to beat flames away from the Sierra-at-Tahoe ski resort. Smoke and ash so dense that the clarity of Lake Tahoe’s brilliant […]

Researchers have already seen drops in Lake Tahoe’s clarity during the fires. The damage could be temporary, or it could last years. Its extent depends on how much soot is released into its famous blue waters.

The Dixie and Caldor fires may have dealt the burning blows, but these towns are the victims of misplaced corporate priorities, agency arrogance and a fundamental misunderstanding of the role of fire in the forests of the Sierra Nevada.

Our state's system of policies, laws and institutions is designed to keep bad things from happening and is much less adept at expediting programs and projects that must happen quickly and at a scale to address a warming climate. This must change.